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Abstract
Planners in Ceredigion are not helping his cause and have refused planning permission to bring a prefab into the Lampeter area.
Dr [Greg Stevenson] is determined to change that and aims to move a doomed Newport home to a new location in rural Ceredigion - if he can win a planning appeal.
Dr Stevenson has just won a Ceredigion Business Award for his work in restoring old thatched cottages in the area, which he rents to tourists in a non-profit business.
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A UNIVERSITY lecturer has begun a campaign to save one of the last of a doomed species in Wales - the prefab house.
But planners in Ceredigion are not helping his cause and have refused planning permission to bring a prefab into the Lampeter area.
Ready-made homes are seen by some as cheap and nasty, but Dr Greg Stevenson of Lampeter University believes they are striking symbols of post-war Britain and deserve recognition.
But they are not considered historically important by the authorities and are quickly disappearing from the Welsh landscape.
The Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans has rescued one of the factory-built homes but soon nobody in Wales will actually be living inside prefabs.
Dr Stevenson is determined to change that and aims to move a doomed Newport home to a new location in rural Ceredigion - if he can win a planning appeal.
'I really think they are historically important because they are a reminder of the Second World War,' he said. 'War-damaged aircraft were actually melted down to make these homes and they are part of the social and architectural history of Wales.'
He now hopes to take a house from the Treberth Estate and relocate it in Cribyn near Lampeter for his latest history and tourism venture.
Dr Stevenson has just won a Ceredigion Business Award for his work in restoring old thatched cottages in the area, which he rents to tourists in a non-profit business.
His website (www.underthethatch.co.uk) helped to secure the award and he hopes to do the same with the rescued prefab if given permission.
'We were delighted to win the award because we are quite unique and I really feel we could offer something different again,' he said.
'Prefabs might not be as romantic as thatched cottages but I really think we could achieve similar success with this house.
'It would be open for schools and like my other buildings would be furnished with museum quality fittings,' Dr Stevenson said.
'I have got a grant from the Assembly and Cadw for the work but I have been refused planning permission so I have to appeal.'
Dr Stevenson will find out if the scheme can go ahead after the appeal in January.
'There is so much bad provision for tourists in Wales,' he added.
'I think we bring in new tourists and we teach people traditional skills, so we are putting something back into the community.'
(Copyright 2003 Western Mail and Echo Ltd.)